A variety of dispensing and delivery methods are used in vending machines. For multiple product types, shapes, or sizes, two conventional methods are either: (a) individual horizontal dispensers which drop one product at a time to a dispensing bin for customer access or (b) a carousel which rotates the selected product in a multi-partitioned tray to a vending door for customer access. Others move a product to a chute which guides the product by gravity to a delivery opening.
The drop vend method may not be practical for products that can be damaged or deformed in the drop. Nor may the gravity chute for similar reasons or that some products are not conducive to delivery by gravity. Examples are food items like sandwiches, fruit, and the like. The carousel method is limited in the number of items that can be stocked in the vending machine. If a single carousel, it limits the choices. If multiple carousels they must be stacked and then require separate access doors, instead of a single delivery place. Also, if multiple horizontal trays are stacked vertically in a carousel, it can be difficult for some persons to reach all trays. Such an arrangement may also not meet Americans with Disabilities Act regulations which define an acceptable range of heights from the ground or floor for access to a vended product.
Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art. This room for improvement pertains not only to conventional automated merchandising machines and products (including but not limited to food, snacks, personal hygiene products, phone cards, and other consumables), but also to almost any vending or dispensing application. For example, there are a number of applications where it is desired or advantageous to dispense items to relevant persons. Take for example industrial situations. Tools or tool bits can be dispensed one or one (or in packages) to those authorized. Another is medical situations. Supplies can be dispensed to those authorized. Or dispension can simply be through a machine to anyone, but the machine keeps track of inventory. As can be appreciated by those skilled in this art, there are many different vending or dispensing situations that could benefit from the invention, and it is not limited to typical food, beverage, or snack vending machines.